Classic chicken noodle soup is made vegan by simply replacing the chicken with healthy, hearty potatoes. This soup still has that classic comfort flavor and feel without the excess sodium. A bowl of this will fill you up and satisfy you perfectly.
2 Exciting things today! First, The Vegan 8 became 1 year old this week, wow! I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I started The Vegan 8 blog and how much it’s grown. It’s been so exciting to connect with all of you and see you making my recipes in your kitchens. Thank you for all your support, emails, comments, feedback and engagement on all my posts. It really does make a difference to hear from you all and know that my blog is helping you, so a big thank you!!
CLASSIC VEGAN NOODLE SOUP
Today, I’m sharing a classic with you. I grew up eating chicken noodle soup…honestly, who didn’t? That warm bowl of comforting soup that was overly loaded with salt, was somehow so satisfying. Of course, looking at the can of ingredients now is pretty gross. I do remember how the chicken in the can was always really rubbery and I would end up spitting most of it out.
When I became an adult my mom started making a chicken noodle soup recipe that she picked up from a newspaper. It was creamy and slightly spicy and incredibly delicious. Come to find out, it was made using a cream of mushroom can of soup! What?! I thought it was homemade 100%. Lol. Regardless, it was really yummy and I always requested it.
This recipe came about for 2 reasons. One reader emailed me asking me to come up with a vegan “chicken” noodle soup recipe, saying that she would trust my recipe. I sure hope she likes it! Also, my hubby had been begging me to make one for the longest time. It was a gigantic winner with him. He says he could eat it daily. Mr. Picky liked it!
HOW DO YOU MAKE VEGAN CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP?
It really is just so simple, nothing extravagant. Well, you can have it all for 8 easy ingredients, no weird or fancy ingredients.
I replaced the chicken in traditional soup with red potatoes instead. The soup is very comforting and extremely filling. You can serve it alongside my Caesar salad and have a really satisfying, healthy dinner.
MORE VEGAN SOUP RECIPES
- Lazy Red Lentil Curry Soup
- Low-fat Smoky Broccoli Potato Soup
- Vegan Cauliflower Curry Soup
- Hearty Veggie Potato Stew
- Lazy Day Vegan Tomato Bisque
- Smoky Sweet Potato Black-eyed Pea Soup
Classic Vegan Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 4 large long carrots, sliced (you will need 1 1/2 cups sliced, 170 g)
- 4 large long celery stalks (you will need 1 1/2 cups sliced, 200g)
- 1 packed cup (160g) finely diced yellow onion
- 3 x-large garlic cloves, minced (about a tablespoon-15g)
- 3 small red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (you will need 2 1/2 cups, 370g)
- 6-7 cups water (or broth, see update)
- 2 vegan bouillon cubes (SEE NOTE BELOW on alternate version!)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (depending on your bouillon cube, this may need adjustment)
- Optional: 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 cups (170g, 6 oz) gluten-free brown rice spiral noodles
UPDATE
- I have recently made this without the bouillon cubes since so many have asked. If you want to skip the bouillon cube version, then make it as written above, but with obviously omitting the bouillon cubes and adding additionally the following to what is ALREADY written above: Replace the water with 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, add 1-2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce (I buy a vegan version from Whole Foods, to taste), add 1/2 teaspoon more salt (so 1 1/2 teaspoons total, this can vary due to your broth as well), add 2 1/2 teaspoons onion powder, add 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, add 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning spice blend (premade blend from store). Since bouillon cubes add a lot of flavor, this is why you will need to add all of these spices if you omit it. Taste after everything is cooked and add any more seasonings if desired.
Instructions
- Prepare all of your veggies and set aside.
Add 6 cups of the water (or broth if using the updated version) to a large pot and bring to a boil, add the bouillon cubes (or all the spices listed under "update" and whisk to dissolve. Immediately add all of the veggies, thyme, (updated spices if using) and salt and nutritional yeast, if using. You are adding all of the ingredients except the pasta. Stir well and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, immediately turn to the lowest heat, cover and simmer around 10 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are becoming tender.
Add the pasta and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, leave the lid off and turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the pasta is tender, but still firm. Turn off the heat. With the above ingredients, it didn't need any more salt for us, but feel free to taste and add any extra. If you want it more brothy, add the remaining broth. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and black pepper, if desired. I love freshly ground black pepper on my soup.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition per 1 cup serving: 162.3 calories, 1.9 g fat, 3.4 g protein, 33.5 carbs, 3.9 g sugars
All hail to you for including weights!!!
A suggestion if you don’t mind – even with smaller amounts it would be helpful to have weights. I suggest to all cooks to go on Amazon and get a scale capable of weighing small portions of grams. There are things where it really makes a difference, as in my example below, but even with your own creations or things you do often, there are some things that you may want to be able to exactly reproduce.
I recently made something where I used a different sized salt than the creat0r of the recipe had (no degree of coarseness was mentioned and I used a fine-grained one) and it made a difference. The recipe came out inedible and I had to make another quantity of it with no salt and mix the two, thankfully it was a recipe that lent itself to that.
This could also make a difference with flake or powdered nutritional yeast, and even between brands of bullion cubes in which case I’d mention the brand you used so if people really wanted to replicate your results, they could buy what you did.
Just my slightly ocd take on cooking and weights, I’m sure this is lovely either way but as long as you’re so awesome as to include weights I figure why not go all the way there : )
Hi Bett! So glad you enjoy the weight measurements. I actually do try to include weight measurements on even smaller amounts on newer recipes lately. For something like 1/8 tsp though or something that small, my scale does not measure something that low accurately. I figured people could at least figure those really small teaspoons out though. As far as salt, I always always specify fine sea salt in my recipes. I hope that helps! 🙂
Just commenting to say this is by far the best mock chicken noodle soup I’ve ever had. Love the idea
Of adding potatoes for that comfort food feel .. Usually people add like tofu and it’s just not as good .. I added 1/2 cup dried green peas (and 3/4 cup water) for a bit of protein and added and extra tbsp each of onion powder and Italian seasoning (I didn’t use the bouillon). Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Yay, so very happy this is the best one you’ve ever had! Thank you so much for the feedback Kayla!
Thanks so much for this recipe. It is a favorite at my home. 🙂
So glad to hear that Dawn, thank you!
I’m sorry if this is a sill question but to the following directions:
“Add the pasta and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, leave the lid off and turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the pasta is tender, but still firm.”
Does this mean bring heat setting up to bring back to a boil or keep it at lo? Also, is the lid on during that part?
Every time I make this , my liquid disintegrates quite a bit. Please help!
Hi Amber, that means to raise the heat so it comes back to a boil, otherwise it will take much longer if you keep it at low. As soon as it’s boiling, turn the heat down to a medium-high and cook until the pasta is tender. And no, you do not have the lid on, otherwise it will cook down the pasta water too quickly. If your liquid is cooking down too much, you may just need to lower the heat some or maybe you are using a type of pasta that absorbs more liquid. Maybe try using less pasta? Hope that helps!
My friend, who is a vegetarian, is sick with a cold this week, so I made this for her and she loved it! Thanks so much!
So happy to hear that Sarah and that was so sweet of you to make it for her! What a good friend you are! 🙂 Thank you for the feedback!
Tried this tonight and it was a huge success! Meateating husband loved it and we will be having this again in the future! Thank you!
Awesome! That is wonderful news, thank you so much for letting me know Claudia!
OMG!! This soup is the best I’ve ever made, including all the years I was non-vegan. Thank you so much for this recipe!
The only change I made was using a package of fresh Japanese Udon noodles in long strands that I cut up into more bite-size pieces. And since they were fresh it took even less time for the soup to head to the serving table.
My husband just had some teeth pulled and couldn’t eat solid food but he could eat this soup — and chicken noodle is his favorite (he’s not vegan). This reminded him not only of the “real” soup but also of the chicken & noodles dish he gets at a restaurant, usually served over biscuits. I think traces of flour left on the fresh noodles gave the soup a thicker, creamier texture reminiscient of an aromatic delicious gravy.
The flavor was out of this world. Not kidding — this is such a winner. Grateful! thank you Brandi!
Can I tell you that your comment just made my day?! So very happy you loved it so much, thank you so much for the amazing feedback! Sharing it on my FB page!
I have Banza shells (made from chickpeas) on hand.
I was wondering your thoughts on using shells instead of spiral noodles.
Thank you!!! 🙂
Hi Jessica, any shape pasta you want to use should work just fine. I have no idea about how chickpea pasta will taste or hold up though, so I can’t comment on that part. Let me know how it turns out!
It turned out absolutely amazing !
Seriously one of the best soups I’ve made, going to reccomend to everyone!
The chickpea pasta worked perfect!
I am afraid of how much sodium this recipe has but regardless I’m in love 🙂 !!
So awesome! So glad to hear that! The sodium isn’t as bad if you don’t use the bouillon cubes!
Girlfriend and I were sick yesterday and since we’re both vegetarians, I made this for us. I used bouillon cube and skipped yeast. Since I’m Bosnian, we had a box of what we call “tjestenina” from our last trip to Eastern Europe and I used that in place of the pasta. Soup came out AMAZING.
Thanks a bunch!
Brandi, this soup was awesome! My son and I both got colds so this was perfect!! I did omit the potatoes and added chick’n strips. This will be a go to recipe, cold or no cold. Thanks again! Faye
This is the BEST vegan noodle soup ever! I use nutritional yeast all the time – on popcorn, to make cheese sauces – but never thought of adding it to soup. It really adds to the flavor and even makes it look like chicken soup. This is my go-to recipe during “soup” season which is pretty often living in the north, and it really does the trick when I’m under the weather. I love marjoram so I add that and at the end of the recipe I add frozen peas. Thank you Brandi for this banner soup recipe 🙂
I’m sure this has come up before but didn’t see it as I was scrolling along. I make this soup a lot. We love it! Do you know if it would freeze well? I haven’t tried because I was afraid potatoes would turn to mush. Thanks!
I just made this for my husband who is so sick with a cold. Of course I needed to make a vegan version of the old chicken soup recipe, since I am vegan and he is trying it out now. This was perfect, he loved it! He said it was flavorful and was a keeper, that’s what he says when he really likes a recipe that I try. I used the water with the low sodium Not-Chick’n bouillon cubes, also added the nutritional yeast. I will definitely be making this often.
That is so wonderful to hear, thank you so much Kathy for the feedback!
Was searching for a vegan soup recipe last night as I’m currently getting over a cold, and I stumbled across this recipe. I had to substitute a few ingredients with what I had on hand, vegetable stock for bouillon, spring onion for a white onion, and omitted the thyme. It tasted so good! Packed with a lot of flavour, this soup helped my sore throat as well as making me feel full all night. I reluctantly dished some out to my family as well, and they all thought it was great too. Thanks for the recipe!
Awww, I’m so glad it was such a soothing healing soup for you Natalie and helped you! Thank you for the feedback! Just fyi, under Note I have listed the version without a bouillon cube 🙂
did it , it’s very beautiful recipe and easy for people who follow plant based diet .
thank you for your efforts .
Wonderful Sarah, so glad you enjoyed it!
This is exactly the soup I have been looking for since I stopped eating meat 27 years ago! My family loves it (even my meat eating husband). I’m actually a bit happy our spring weather disappeared and soup weather has returned! So yummy! (I didn’t have the bouillon cubes so I made the alternate version, but am picking up the cubes today to try that version). Thank you!!
Wow, that is so awesome to hear Amy! So happy everybody all loved it! Thank you very much for the feedback!
Hi there! I think I forgot to post about how incredible this soup is the last time I made it. My whole family loved it! I’m making it again as we speak, even though I live in the Texas heat! Yummy nums!! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful recipes with us!
Thank you so much Melissa, that is so wonderful to hear! Sorry I missed this comment before!!
I noticed someone put it in a crockpot….at what point would you suggest putting noodles in so they don’t go to mush? Thanks in advance, can’t wait to make it later in the crockpot (too hot for the stove)
Hi Brittany, I am not sure since I never use a crockpot, but my guess would be at the very end after everything else is cooked, add the pasta and let it cook until it’s tender. That’s my guess though!
I’m not vegan-Yet!-but one big reason is because the recipes I come across have ingredients too hard to find, expensive, or just plain “what is that?!” to a newbie. Once I found this website I was hooked. Three kids ages 5-14 plus a meat loving husband makes this transition and journey hard. Since I’ve been making your recipes the amount of “yes, please, more” has drastically increased. I’m sooo glad I came across your recipes. You have made my “what’s for dinner?” challenge manageable. This is for dinner tonight. Cannot wait to try it.
Oh, Amy, this made me SO happy to hear! It is so much appreciated to hear from readers who are having such great success with my recipes. I am so glad to hear you ALL are loving the recipes so much! Thank you a million for letting me know!
This recipe is sooo yummy!!! Even better than the original chicken recipe lol. I just went vegan about 2 weeks ago and I caught a really bad cold — wasn’t sure how I would last without chicken soup. This recipe definitely did the trick and it’s super easy?! I couldn’t ask for more!!! This will definitely become a staple in my house! Thank you for the recipe!!!!!
Yay! So glad you loved this Lizzie! So glad it helped to make you feel better too. Thank you so much for the feedback!
I would love to make this soup in my pressure cooker/slow cooker instead of on the stove, how would I go about doing that?
Hi Celena! I’m not sure since I never use a slow cooker, so I’m not able to give advice on that. But this soup is really fast, so it is very easy to just do on the stove.
How can you leave out the step of sweating vegetables and spices first in fat? Surely this is how you get the most flavour out of vegetables. All soups have this ‘base’ step.
Hi Kimberly! I find that step absolutely unnecessary in some recipes and since I don’t believe in cooking my food in oil, I don’t saute these in oil. Judging by the ton of reviews all above, seems everybody thinks the soup is amazing and flavorful. I used to cook in oil and find NO difference in how delicious my food turns out. It really depends on the recipe I’m doing though, as well, as some I will saute the veggies first. But with oil, it’s just unnecessary calories/fat. If you want to saute them first before adding the remainder broth etc., then go for it! I just am about quick and simple sometimes. This soup is so flavorful, nobody would ever know if they were sauteed first.
My oldest son & I have been eating Plant Based for almost 3 months now. I love your recipes! Can’t wait to try this one! Our favorite recipe of yours so far is the Nacho Cheese sauce from your Mexican Casserole. It is the bomb!!! My youngest son who is Autistic & is a total Carnivore, loved the nacho cheese! I look forward to all your recipe posts!
Hi Fritzi! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy to hear how much your son enjoyed the cheese sauce and I apologize for just seeing this comment! Thank you for your support!
This was such a big hit with everyone. My mom made traditional chicken noodle soup and I had my vegan one to eat for myself. My family loved adding some of this soup to their chicken because the broth is so flavorful. And I was so happy for my own tastebuds. :).
Really wonderful meal. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
So awesome to hear that Allie, thank you so much for the wonderful review! Glad everybody enjoyed it!
My husband and I just finished this delicious noodle soup for lunch. We ended up having seconds and fortunately there is enough left over for another meal. Thanks again for another great recipe.
So wonderful to hear Carmen, thank you so much! I’m happy you both enjoyed it! Would you mind star rating the recipe, it helps me out so much, thank you?!
Sorry I forgot to rate the soup. Thumbs up all the way.
Thank you so much Carmen, I really appreciate it!
We love this recipe and can’t wait to make it a lot over the colder months. We add extra thyme and some parsley for extra flavor. The worst part about this recipe is that we don’t have enough left overs!!! =) haha Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear how much you all loved this recipe Jennifer, thank you so much for the review! I usually sprinkle in extra thyme as well because I love it so much!
Hi! I made this soup last night and it was beyond delicious 🙂 the whole family loved it. Thank you! I love your recipes
Yay Elisa! So happy your whole family loved it! Thank you so much for the lovely review!
The flavor was spot on. For some reason,though, I lost most of my broth. Maybe I let it cook too long? I added an additional 4 cups of water to get the consistency right. Tasted so good. Thank you for another great recipe.
Hi! So glad you loved the flavor! Sounds like there was too much pasta added and it will soak up all the broth or like you mentioned, letting it cook too long or at too high of a heat will cook the broth away. If you want to make sure this doesn’t happen again, you could always cook the pasta separately and just add some to the finished soup, that way it won’t cook away 🙂
I liked this very much… and not a big soup fan! I played with it some….did it in the Instant Pot. Saute the vegetables for a bit, throw in the rest of the ingredients. Manual for 4 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then quick release. Vegies were soft and the pasta al dente. It worked! Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that Karen, thank you for sharing!
THIS SOUP IS DELICIOUS!!!! We are vegan and it’s so hard to find a soup to replace chicken noodle in the winter when everyone gets sick. WE ALL LOVE IT!!! Added lots of nutritional yeast and used “better than bouillon” and it’s delicious!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe! Will be making it for years to come! 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that Stephanie! Thank you so much for making it and leaving such an awesome review!
I’ve made this soup several times and it is fantastic. One question, we’re snowed in today and I have everything except the rice noodles. Will it work with whole wheat pasta? Should I cook it separately? Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe!! I’m sick for the 1st time since going vegan 4 months ago and didn’t have energy for complicated soup recipe. This is amazingmy delicious, even my omni husband and kids loved It! Definitely adding my rotation!!! I also love that most ingredients are in pantry already. 😀
With a sick girlfriend, this soup was the perfect thing to see her back on her feet. I’m a new fan to this site.
This is the second time I’ve made this soup, it’s so yummy and easy to make. I add a can of drained, rinsed chickpeas, as well, for a little added protein. Definite comfort food! 🙂
I’m so glad to hear how much you enjoy the soup Julie!!
I made your vegan noodle soup for lunch today and it was perfect for this gray chilly Michigan day. I could not find vegan bouillon so I used the update and it was wonderful. Thank you!!
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed it Angie!
I am 14 and made this awesome soup successfully. My dad was making a traditional acadian soup but it had chicken, so I made my own by adjusting this recipe to match the acadian frico which includes dumplings. Me and my mom loved very much!
Oh this is so wonderful to hear Isabelle! You are so amazing and awesome to make this soup!!
Just wanted to let you know this is now a staple in my house. When I became vegan one of the things I missed was homemade chicken noodle soup. So glad I tried this recipe! Now, when it’s cold, or when I’m not feeling well, all I want is this soup! It is healthy, comforting, and freezes well (without the noodles). I always have a batch in the freezer. Thanks so much for a great recipe!
So awesome to hear that Lynne, thank you for the review!
I make/request this every time I’m sick, or just looking for simple soup. Best recipe!!
So glad you love it, thank you Gina!
my husband came home complaining of an upset stomach. I made this soup and he’s feeling better.
So glad the soup made him feel better!
Another 5 star hit from Brandy! This soup is outstanding, brings back memories of childhood chicken noodle soup. EVERYONE loved it and I have printed and given out at least 5 copies of this recipe, it’s delish! The first batch I made, I did not follow directions and I used regular white pasta – oh man, it doubled in size turning my soup into a pot of pasta with no broth, so be sure to use the gluten free brown rice pasta!!! Thanks again Brandy for your awesome culinary skills!
One of my favourite recipes ever! This is so so tasty and simply to make. I cannot believe I haven’t already written a review about it! Absolutely amazing. It’s gotten to the point where I’m cooking this once a week at least! Yay thank you so much
The only thing I do to change it is adding more water than stated, but that is just a personal preference.
SO happy to hear that Ellen!
I loved it. I make a homemade bouillon I found on Pinterest so that I can control how much sodium goes into any dish I put it in. I was worried I wouldn’t get enough flavor. I make and freeze my own vege broth but I didn’t have 6 cups. The only modification I made was I went ahead an added Worcester sauce like you recommend if using broth and not bouillon cubes. I also added an extra tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Probably didn’t need to do all that but I wasn’t sure of my homemade bouillon. It came out great. Thank you for another low-fat winner
Loved this recipe! I added some garbanzo beans that I had leftover from making hummus and a super finely chopped bunch of lacinato kale. Delicious!!! Thank you!
So happy to hear that Jen! Thank you for the review!
This recipe is bomb! So yummy and flavorful. I used the bouillon cubes. The only thing I changed was I used 1/4 of the amount of pasta because I like my noodle soup more brothy and I have found that pasta sucks it all up!
So happy to hear you loved it!
delicious! A new family favorite for us. Hard to fine recipes we all like with a 8, 6, and 4 year old!
This was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it!!
This recipes is seriously amazing! Simple, whole food, so flavorful! Thank you so much!